


Together forever

by heavensweetheart



Category: Avatar: The Last Airbender
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Childhood Friends, Awkward Romance, Declarations Of Love, Dorks in Love, F/M, Falling In Love, First Love, Fluff, Friends to Lovers, Friendship/Love, Kid!Zutara, Love, Love Confessions, Mutual Pining, No War AU, POV First Person, Pining Zuko (Avatar), Romance, Romantic Fluff, Slow Romance, Teen Romance, Tooth-Rotting Fluff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-16
Updated: 2020-12-16
Packaged: 2021-03-11 03:07:22
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 8
Words: 3,152
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28108308
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/heavensweetheart/pseuds/heavensweetheart
Summary: Young prince Zuko writes in his diary about his relationship with his childhood friend, Katara from the Southern Water Tribe.
Relationships: Katara/Zuko (Avatar), Side Sokka/Yue, past jet/katara
Comments: 18
Kudos: 49
Collections: Zutara Holiday Exchange 2020





	1. Nine

**Author's Note:**

  * For [antarcticas](https://archiveofourown.org/users/antarcticas/gifts).



> HAPPY ZUTARA HOLIDAY EXCHANGE!!!! <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3

Dear Diary,

Today I made a new friend. Her name is Katara, she’s Sokka’s sister, this is first time she travels outside the Southern Water Tribe because she’s big enough now. Sokka was angry and told her she couldn’t play with us because she was a girl. Katara waterbended the water from the turtleduck pond and threw it at his face.

She’s fun.

* * *

Dear Diary,

Katara and Sokka will be staying at the Fire Palace while their parents and mine talk about grown-up stuff with other adults. Today Azula was been mean to me and Katara told her to stop, then Azula was mean to Katara and I told her to stop. Katara and I played together all day after that.

Sokka wasn’t invited to play with us because he’s mean to Katara too. 

* * *

Dear Diary,

Sokka is such a dummy, he kept following me and Katara today. He said Azula is evil so he doesn’t want to play with her but he is still mean to Katara. He said Katara is boring because all she does is practice her bending. Katara threw water at him again.

He said he was going to tell their mother and I was scared Katara would get in trouble but she wasn’t. She said her parents know she only throws water at Sokka when he’s being a bad big brother.

I didn’t know how waterbending worked so she showed me.

Her bending is pretty.

* * *

Dear Diary,

Katara was very nice for showing me her waterbending so I want to do something nice for her too. I’m gonna show her my firebending tomorrow, I’ll be practicing all night!

Dear Diary,

She said I’m a good firebender!!!

* * *

Dear Diary,

Today Katara returns to the Water Tribe and I’m sad because she is very nice and I don’t want her to leave but I want her to have something to remember the Fire Nation so I brought her some of the fire lilies she said she liked. She kissed me on the cheek for it.

It was gross! I’m not gonna miss her anymore!

* * *

Dear Diary,

I miss Katara.


	2. Ten

Dear Diary,

It’s been a year since I saw my friends from the Southern Water Tribe, but this year my family is the one that’s going to travel to their tribe for the world leaders’ meeting, ~~I’ve been studying lots of political things like Dad told me.~~

It’s very cold in here. Azula doesn’t like it, she has been screaming for the captain to turn the ship back to the Fire Nation.

I don’t like the cold, but I’m excited to see Katara and Sokka. I brought Katara more fire lilies like the ones I gave her last time, but they are a bit squeezed and ugly for carrying them in my pocket all the way here. You think she’ll still like them?

* * *

Dear Diary,

I don’t think Katara liked the fire lilies ugly as they were, but she said it was sweet that I brought her something.

Sokka wanted for us to go penguin sledding today, but he said Katara still can’t come with us because she’s _still_ a girl. Katara challenged us to a race: Sokka and I would be one team, and she and Princess Yue from the Northern Water Tribe would be another team.

Sokka was gloating to Princess Yue that he was the fastest at penguin sledding in the Southern Water Tribe. When we were racing, Katara pushed him off his penguin.

Yue stayed back to help Sokka, so Katara and I were tied in the first place. Katara is actually very good at racing, ~~Azula, Mai, and Ty Lee would never want to play something like this~~ she was super-fast and kept blocking my way so I couldn’t come ahead of her, but I used my firebending to push myself forward and we finished the race in a tie. Sokka got angry with me for not winning and said I wasn’t his best friend anymore, Princess Yue was his new best friend. I asked him if he didn’t mind she was a girl. Sokka tried to take back what he said, but Katara said he couldn’t, she already took me as her new best friend.

I have a new best friend.

* * *

Dear Diary,

Katara is cool. She shows me lots of stuff about waterbending and I show her stuff about firebending. She keeps saying that I’m a good firebender, but I was sad because Dad doesn’t think that I am and that Azula is better than me.

Katara said I’m the first firebender she met, then I will always be _the best_ firebender for her.

* * *

Dear Diary,

I want to keep doing nice things for Katara, she’s a very good friend.

Today she said she had to help the rest of the girls in tribe to do chores and I offered to help. I don’t think I did the chores very good, I sort of mixed the clothes that I was supposed to wash and everything now is weird-colored. But Katara and I laughed because it was funny.

* * *

Dear Diary,

Katara took me fishing today, she wanted to prove Sokka she is just as good at it as he is.

She used her bending to take the fishes in a bubble and I caught them.

It was gross! I let go of them and then we were chasing them to stop jumping and don’t get to the water again. We kept laughing after that because it was funny, too.

* * *

Dear Diary,

Katara, Sokka, Yue, Azula and I told ghost stories tonight. Sokka’s stories were very bad, Azula said we could never tell a story that scared her. She said she’s not like me because I get scared easy. I told her I didn’t, and Katara said of course I didn’t because I was brave. I blushed, and Azula said that I got scared _and_ blushed easy.

* * *

Dear Diary,

Azula is the _worst_! She keeps saying Katara is my girlfriend when she _isn’t_!

* * *

Dear Diary,

Today we go back to the Fire Nation and I’m sad again because I want to stay with Katara. Or I want Katara to come with us.

Anyways, I wanted to give another goodbye-gift to Katara, but I didn’t know what. Katara found out that I wanted to give her a gift, so she said we could make a best-friend-pact instead. It was with something that she does with her grandmother that’s called pinky-swear. We hooked our pinky fingers together and we promised we would be best friends forever.

We’ll be best friends forever!! Nothing will ever separate us!!


	3. Eleven

Dear Diary,

Today Katara comes to the Fire Nation again. I am very excited to see her because she always makes me feel better when I am sad. Today I am sad again because lots of things have happened. Father still thinks I am a bad firebender, and some things are difficult to learn, Azula is still better than me, and she is everyone’s favorite. But Katara said I am her favorite firebender, and every time I remember it, it makes me feel better.

* * *

Dear Diary,

I talked to Katara about everything my father and Azula said about me. She said I shouldn’t listen to them, her mother always says the only thing that matters is the effort you put into getting better at things, and that I should continue to try getting better at firebending. Then she showed me how much she has learned on waterbending, and that we could practice at the same time so we would get better together.

Her bending is still pretty. Katara looks pretty when she’s practicing waterbending.

* * *

Dear Diary,

Katara has been helping study all the things Dad said I have to study. We both think they are boring, but she is helping because she is my friend. My _best_ friend.

* * *

Dear Diary,

Today would have been awful if Katara wasn’t here.

Azula kept bothering us saying Katara was my girlfriend, even when we yelled at her that she isn’t my girlfriend!

Then Azula said she wanted Katara and me to play with her, Mai, and Ty Lee. Azula said the game was that she would put an apple on fire on Mai’s head and I would have to put the fire down. I pushed Mai to the fountain and she fell in, Katara stopped me from falling, too. Azula pouted, and Katara and I realized she just wanted to make me fall into the fountain. I took Katara away and told Azula to leave us alone. We kept playing by ourselves.

P.S: I don’t think Mai likes Katara very much.

* * *

Dear Diary,

KATARA IS THE BESTEST FRIEND!!

That’s all.

* * *

Dear Diary,

My cousin Lu Ten died in an accident.

Mom told Azula and me, I didn’t cry because Father says leaders don’t cry. But then I cried when I came to my room at night.

Katara snuck out of her room to come to mine and hugged me while I cried.


	4. Twelve

Dear Diary,

I miss Katara a whole lot when she is away. I write her letters, but they always take too long to get there and then for me to receive her answers. I guess it is not too bad because at least when we are away, we get to write to each other all year long until our families travel to visit again.

Every time I write to Katara, I tell her how much better I have gotten at firebending, and she tells me how much better she has gotten at waterbending. Sometimes I can see the spots where her wet fingers dried on the scrolls, sometimes she apologizes for that in the letter, too; sometimes I burn my scrolls with my fingers so we match.

I tell Katara about the books I read, the flowers I see, and the places I visit. I tell her about the Fire Nation festivals, and I promise her that one day we will visit one together.

One day we will travel through all the Fire Nation, and then the _world_!

One day I will take Katara to all the places I have studied in the Palace’s maps, and she will take me to explore all the South Pole. Then we will visit the four Air Temples, and the three rings in the Earth Kingdom.

One day, when we grow up, we will do everything together, and see everything together. Katara will have a flower of every kind, and we will read all books. And we could make a new home for the two of us, we could make a new country, we could be each other’s prince and princess. I would make Katara a crown with her flowers, and she would make me a sword with her ice. And we would be together.

Best friends. Together forever.


	5. Thirteen

Dear Diary,

Sokka and Katara are visiting again, and Sokka’s being a pain talking how much of a crush he has on princess Yue. It is gross and cheesy, what happened to “girls give have nits” or whatever it was that he said? He is so childish.

Katara is more mature than him and she is eleven! I am _so_ glad to be friends with her.


	6. Fourteen

Dear Diary,

Katara has been acting very weird lately. Her eyes are always sparkling, and she wants to be so close to me. It is so weird. Maybe it is something younger girls do, though Azula never acts that way. Mai does, I suppose, whenever she is near me.

Whatever.


	7. Fifteen

Dear Diary,

Katara is still acting weird with me. Maybe acting weird is something all younger sisters do, that is what Sokka says. He says it is in their nature, I told him we could exchange younger sisters any day.


	8. Sixteen

Dear Diary,

… Okay, something weird happened today.

Not “regular weird”. I mean, not the weird that usually happens to me. Well, it sort of involved someone that I know, but it is still not something that usually happens to me. I mean… Anyway, remember my friend Katara? Her family is visiting the Fire Nation again and today she came… well… pretty.

Like, pretty-pretty. Like when a girl _is_ pretty. No, wait; that came out wrong. _Of course_ Katara has always been pretty, I have said it before, but this time she came prettier than normal. Prettier than all the years we have met.

* * *

Dear Diary,

What the heck?! Katara told me she has a _boyfriend_?!

Why didn’t she tell me before?

Okay, I admit it, we have not written to each other as often as when we were kids, but sometimes friendships turn quieter, right? _Right?!_

Was I a bad friend for not writing her as often as I did? Is that why she didn’t tell me she has a new boyfriend – some Earth Kingdom guy good with swords.

 _Pfft!_ I am good with swords, too. Why didn’t she think ask for me to be her boyfriend?

Wait…

* * *

Dear Diary,

Katara is amazing. She has always been amazing, but I guess you need some years of cooled down friendship to really appreciate someone.

She has improved so much as a waterbender, and she has been studying politics, too. She is great at talking and getting along with everyone – not that it is very difficult for other people to like her – and she remembers tons of tiny stuff. Today she reminded me of the pact we made to be best friends forever when we were kids, we did the whole pinky thing again.

… She is sweet.

* * *

Dear Diary,

Katara today showed me more waterbending moves she has learned. She is so flexible, like she indeed was part of the water and the waves. When the water is around her, her blue eyes stand out, like they were all part of the ocean when it is twinkling with the sunlight.

P.S: Wait… What did I just write?

* * *

Dear Diary,

Katara and I were talking today about everything we did when we were kids, for reminiscing the old times. We talked about the letters we exchanged, all the things we told each other, every the memory we shared. We both thought we would be together forever, that we could run away and be only there for each other. It could be only the two of us, around the world and then in a kingdom we would create. I would have been the Sun Prince, and she would have been the Night Princess.

_Would have been…_

* * *

Dear Diary,

Katara is still obsessed with her new boyfriend Jet. And I don’t get why, he sounds like a jerk! 

She _has_ to understand if I get angry if she talks about other guys, right?

No, she doesn’t have to.

I am not her boyfriend.

* * *

Dear Diary,

_Katara… Katara… Katara…_

P.S: Sorry, I wrote that without realizing.

* * *

Dear Diary,

The Southern Water Tribe family came in the same month fire lilies are blooming, and in time for the royal ball the Palace hosts at this time of the year. I always hate coming to these things, but then I saw Katara in her dress and… suddenly I wanted to go.

I also danced with her. She is very beautiful – I mean, she is a good dancer!

* * *

Dear Diary,

The day after the royal ball a festival in the capital, I invited Katara to go to fulfill the promise I made when we were little. She was very excited and she looked beautiful when we went out. She said she had never been in a festival like this before, so I took her to all the attractions and won prizes for her so this time she will have something more enduring than a fire lily to take home.

She liked the prizes very much, and she said that she liked the fire lilies just as much.

* * *

Dear Diary,

 _Katara… Katara… Katara…_ _Katara… Katara…_

P.S: Sorry, I will stop writing without noticing!

* * *

Dear Diary,

Katara is acting weird again, but different this time. She doesn’t want to talk much or do anything with me. I asked her if I had done something wrong, but she just said it wasn’t my fault.

* * *

Dear Diary,

Katara told me what was it that was bothering her.

When we were little she had a crush on me, and she felt she had gotten over it so we could be just friends, but now she feels she hasn’t, not as good as she thought. And it is complicating her relationship with Jet because she doesn’t feel it is fair to him to continue dating him when she feels this way for another person, so she wants us to keep our distance and be _just_ friends.

I am still trying to process it all.

* * *

Dear Diary,

 _Katara… Katara… Katara…_ _Katara…_

* * *

Dear Diary,

I try really hard to be _just_ friends with Katara, but it is _very_ difficult!

It hurts to limit myself to only be near her. To not be able to touch her, and talk the way we normally do, the way that reminds me everything good that have ever happened to me.

Backward-looking, I think now I understand why she acted strange around me when we were children.

I wish she had said something then, I would have apologized to her for putting her through this suffering.

* * *

Dear Diary,

_Katara… Katara… Katara…_

* * *

Dear Diary,

KATARA BROKE UP WITH JET!!!!

She told me! I mean, it is not like the two of us are dating now, but…

* * *

Dear Diary,

Okay, today is the day, I am going to ask Katara on a date!

* * *

Dear Diary,

Okay, I didn’t, but I will tomorrow!

* * *

Dear Diary,

Today I will!

* * *

Dear Diary,

I didn’t.

What is wrong with me?!

* * *

Dear Diary,

Today I _will_.

* * *

Dear Diary,

Alright, fine, Katara was the one that asked me out at the end, but the point is I am going to date THE MOST BEAUTIFUL AND AMAZING GIRL IN THE WORLD!!

* * *

Dear Diary,

Katara and I went swimming for our date.

Her eyes do sparkle when she is near the water, but the emotion in them is always there. It truly feels like swimming through seawater heated by the sunlight. Like that reinforcement of the air inside your lungs and the warmth and calmness surrounding you.

* * *

Dear Diary,

I remember what I wrote about Katara and me when I was twelve.

I remember what I felt when I wrote it. I don’t think I ever forgot it, the feelings were just too intense for me to understand them then. I can understand them now.

We have grown now, we can accomplish all the dreams we wanted to achieve and then create some more. I can be her prince, and she can be my princess. I can make her that crown of flowers. We can do everything together, and see everything together.

Just the two of us. Together forever.

**Author's Note:**

> Hope everyone enjoyed it!! And if any of you would like to know ways to help me keep writing, please, please, **PLEASE** see the pinned post on my Tumblr page: https://heavensweetheart.tumblr.com


End file.
